I want to share good news: thanks to our advocacy, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has just expelled U.N. official Richard Falk — the notorious Hamas supporter, 9/11 conspiracist and antisemite — from one of its prestigious committees, where he helped played a key role in the organization’s global work.

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After UN Watch’s open letter (see below) was published and went viral on the Internet, HRW did the right thing and finally fired Falk, deleting his name from their website listing of committee members.

I received confirmation this morning from an HRW representative, who informed me that Falk “no longer” holds the position, and that the HRW website “has now been updated to reflect that fact.”

The timing and specifics were provided today by none other than Richard Falk himself, who admitted on his blog that, fo

llowing UN Watch’s protest yesterday, he was “asked to resign.”

Falk said he was told that it was “because of my connection with the UN, which is contrary to HRW policy.”

If that were the real reason, of course, he would have been removed long ago.

I want to thank you for all your support of our work, which allows UN Watch to continue winning victories for the genuine cause of human rights. You can count on us to keep fighting for what is right.

Dear Mr. Roth, We are shocked to discover that Richard Falk—the U.N. official whose antisemitic remarks and 9/11 conspiracy theories have been condemned by British Prime Minister David Cameron, U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay—is a board member of your organization.

By legitimizing this racist and enemy of human rights, your organization undermines its own founding principles. We urge you to remove him immediately.

According to your website, Mr. Falk is a member of Human Rights Watch’s prestigious Santa Barbara Committee, composed of prominent citizens who play a key role in your organization’s global work.

We find it astonishing that Mr. Falk would be rewarded by such a prestigious position with Human Rights Watch, one of the world’s largest human rights organizations.

As a keen follower of the U.N. and its Human Rights Council, you surely know the following:

• That Falk is so extreme in his support for the Hamas terrorist organization that even the Palestinian Authority—as revealed in a Wikleaks cable, and which Falk himself admits—has sought to remove him, on grounds that he is a “partisan of Hamas“;

• That Falk last week published an article attempting to downplay, reinterpret and justify the latest call by Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal to destroy Israel;

• That Falk last year published on his website an antisemitic cartoon showing a dog wearing a Jewish head covering, and with “USA” written on its body, urinating on a depiction of justice and devouring a bloody skeleton;

• That Falk was condemned for this antisemitic act by British Prime Minister Cameron;

• That UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay also condemned Falk’s cartoon as “antisemitic”;

• That Falk now provides the cover endorsement of a virulently antisemitic book, “The Wandering Who,” whose author, as documented by Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz in The New Republic, boasts about drawing “insights from a man who… was an anti-Semite as well as a radical misogynist,” a hater of “almost everything that fails to be Aryan masculinity,” declares himself a “proud, self-hating Jew,” writes with “contempt” of “the Jew in me,” and describes himself as “a strong opponent” of “Jewish-ness”;

• That, only two months ago, Falk was condemned for endorsing this antisemitic book by the British Foreign Office, which protested to the U.N. and expressed its “serious concerns”;

12 COMMENTS

In the conflict between the interests of Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs he is 100% on the Arab side.

Below the tip of the iceberg are many many Jews that have taken sides in the name of peace.

But true peace is not about taking sides. It is about win win not zero sum game.

It is debatable if there was a chance for a win win peace agreement in the 1990s.

Today it is not imaginable that true reconciliation is possible between the parties. It looks more like true war or war by diplomatic means.

Meanwhile, Jews need to be loyal to their people and history. This does not mean saying that they can not acknowledge any mistakes. But it does mean that they have to go against the tide of public opinion that does not acknowledge all that is right about Israel.

Rather than condemn the man, though he so richly deserves condemnation, I'd rather salute the work of UN Watch. I believe the UN to be the best hope for ultimately ending war and bringing about world peace. But this hope will not be realized until Israel is given a place on the security council…a permanent place. Until then, UN Watch is performing a service necessary to humanity. Thank you, UN Watch!

If this swine hates himself so much for being a Jew, why can't he at least kill himself and rid the world of such filth? This is not a retoricle question but something that many Jews of his kind should ask themselves and repond accordingly.

Wow. Thank you for your rather intelligent, informative and expressive contribution to the discussion. We can certainly see how much you value peace.

But let’s look at your response anyway, and try to respond to it. First the IDIOT part:

So I’m an idiot for believing the one organization in the world today where countries from all over the world get together to talk about world-wide matters is the world’s best hope for ultimate world peace? You believe there is any other process that can ever actually lead to this peace? I don’t. And as flawed as the UN is, it is the only place where people are carrying on these conversations at a level where they might make a difference. Obviously your UN Watch thinks they’re pretty important, too, or they wouldn’t be doing what they do.

Or am I an idiot because I believe Israel must have a permanent place in the UN Security Council for the UN to realize its promise? I think not. Israel is the one nation in the area that realizes firing missiles into people’s backyards indiscriminately is wrong. Israel is the only nation in t he area that believes murder-bombers and “honor” killings are wrong. Israel is the only nation in the area that believes Israel…and the Jews themselves…have the right to exist.

It is true that not all regimes in the area practice these things. But they could have tremendous impact on those who do practice them, and they do nothing. They are just as much a cause of the problem as those who actively practice or believe in these things. So am I an idiot for believing the most sane nation in the area should be on the Security Council? I think not.

Or am I an idiot because I believe that praising the UN Watch is more effective than castigating the dog that was discovered (I’d rather not say his name)? As you can see, I agree that he should be castigated. And perhaps tarred, feathered and run out of town on a rail. Simply spouting off ugliness makes the spouter feel better by releasing the feelings, at least for a few minutes. However, in the long run it shuts down reason, closes off useful dialog and whips people into a frenzy where they are not likely to be able to do anything effective. Read George Orwell’s 1984 and pay attention to the various “Hate” periods for a good demonstration of how effective this is.

It is, I believe, far more effective to give moral support to an organization that is doing a job that is absolutely necessary in today’s world, even after Israel gets the UNSC post. These folks are working their asses off. Much of what they do is tedious…pouring through records and communications to be sure Israel is being protected. Most gets no thanks and no recognition at all. Yes, they get flashes of acknowledgement
when they uncover something like this dog (perhaps I should call him something else…I hate defaming dogs this way). But the hours, days, and months between these successes they just have to keep plugging along. I salute them.

Or am I an idiot for wanting to salute the UN Watch in the first place? Frankly, and unfortunately, with the UN in the current situation, I think they are of ultimate importance. As a goy who believes that the world is a much better place with both Jews and Israel in it, I think they are performing one of the most important and essential tasks related to government or politics there is on the Planet today.

Well, I think I’ve dealt with the IDIOT part. Perhaps you were commenting on my sex life. Without using your choice of crass words, let me say that I do have one, with the only problem being I don’t get to see my Shemesh as often as I’d like.

But perhaps I have overlooked one way I may be an IDIOT. That would be my paying any attention to the moronic utterances of obviously intelligence-challenged people like you at all. Oh well, you may have me there.